Thai DPM:BRN wants to postpone peace talks with NSC

BANGKOK, August 8 (TNA) - Thai Deputy Prime Minister Police General Pracha Promnok, who supervises national security, says that Malaysia has forwarded the stance of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgency movement, indicating that it wants to postpone its peace talks with the Thai government, through the National Security Council (NSC), until the Thai authorities have clear responses to its five demands. Police General Pracha told journalists on Thursday that the NSC will discuss the issue with the government's committee on policies and strategies for southern border provinces at a meeting next week, chaired by Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, at which Thai authorities concerned are expected to come up with a clear stance. The deputy Thai premier acknowledged a video clip posted on the YouTube website with a claim that the BRN had announced to call off the peace negotiations with the Thai authorities, noting that the BRN group negotiating with Thai authorities had not made such a clear announcement. According to the Thai deputy premier, negotiations appear to be the best and internationally recognized solution to end violent unrest in the Thai far South. The Thai deputy premier, meanwhile, quoted the BRN group as insisting, that the murder of Yacob Raimanee, an Islamic leader of the Central Mosque in Pattani Province, had nothing to do with it, but it was an act of a group wanting to break down the BRN-NSC peace talks. (TNA)